Brothers from Two World
by Gozilla
Summary: (Spoiler! AU-post series) How did Edward came to meet Alphonse Heiderich in Munich? How did they learn to trust and support each other in a world of devastation?


**Brothers from two worlds

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By Gozilla

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A/N: After reading several articles about the movie to be shown in Japan in July this year, I have been wondering the storyline of the movie. This fic is a version which I could not get out of my mind. Please accept my apologies as it is just my silly imagination and I have definitely no intention to predict the real movie storyline.

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Summary: (Spoiler! AU-post series) How did Edward came to meet Alphonse Heiderich in Munich? How did they learn to trust and support each other in a world of devastation?

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Disclaimer: I don't own anything and I don't have anything. So don't sue me!

Please excuse my poor English. -

Reviews are most welcomed!

Enjoy!

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"Leave me alone!" a youth with short golden hair and blue eyes said impatiently as he walked down the street, carrying a paper bag full of research documents.

"Alphonse, listen to me." Edward ran to follow the youth, "Please let me help you in your research on rockery. I told you that I need to find out if this can be the way for me to… to return to somewhere I belong... And, more important, it's that you... you look so similar to my younger brother…"

"Mr Edward Elric!" the youth shouted impatiently, "I don't know what is wrong with you. But I have told you a hundred times before. I am Alphonse Heiderich! Not Alphonse Elric! I am NOT your brother! So leave me alone!" And he walked away, leaving Edward, standing on the street stunned by the angry words.

Head lowered and shoulders slumped in defeat, Edward slowly walked to follow the youth, his mind remembering the day when his almost-extinguished hope relived.

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Flashback -

It had been almost two year after Edward went through the Gate and onto this world. Despite his continuous efforts to search for a way to go back to the world he belonged, Edward found himself trapped in this unfamiliar world which he could not use any of his alchemy power. His will and determination worn out as days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months.

It was not the first time for Edward to experience such frustrating time. The search for the philosopher's stone was no easier than this. However, it was different, very different, as his brother, Alphonse Elric, was not by his side.

Edward felt as if he had lost part of himself without his brother to support him. He felt confused, lost and lonely in this world. He found it very difficult to move on without Al. But yet, his mind kept telling him that he could not give up on the hope as Al was probably waiting for him in the other world.

Edward was torn between the two worlds. The fire of hope was being worn away by failure after failure. He even started questioning himself if he would ever be able to go back to see his brother and friends again.

Depression slowly eroded his heart and he lost interest in all things, including food. He rarely ate properly and lost a lot of weight.

Despite all these, he did not allow himself to give up on his research on rockery. He studied tirelessly on the reports and papers issued by scientists all over the world. He visited the scientists in Europe whose reports or papers showed any sign of hope to Edward. Unfortunately, he was disappointed every single time.

Two weeks ago, Edward found a research paper issued by a scientist called "Edward Heiderich" on the potential of rockery a few years ago. Edward Heiderich proposed a bold and innovative concept of rockets: being fast enough, a rocket might be able to breakthrough the barrier of time and space. This unprecedented new concept rendered the paper to be stored in the un-official "can be ignored" miscellaneous section of the library.

On the other hand, Edward found the concept very interesting. Although he made himself mentally prepared for another major disappointment, he decided to visit Edward Heiderich in person.

It took Edward four days to go to Munich, where Edward Heiderich lived when he published the paper. Edward followed the address and found a small house in a dark alley. He knocked on the door and waited.

"Coming, who is it?"

Edward was very surprised to hear a familiar voice he longed to hear for so long.

Someone opened the door.

Edward felt as if his heart skipped two beats when he saw the person standing in front of him.

"A… Al?" Edward asked, too stunned to say anything more.

The youth standing in front of him was a mirror image of a 16 years old Al, except for his eyes, which were blue. Al's eyes were golden brown.

"Who are you?" the youth asked, alerted by the odd behaviour of the stranger, "How do you know my name? What do you want?"

"I… My name is Edward Elric and I am here looking for Mr Edward Heiderich." Edward recovered from the initial shock and managed to remember the purpose of his visit, "And you are…"

"I am Alphonse Heiderich." The youth replied, getting cautious against the stranger standing in front of him, "I am Edward Heiderich's younger brother. My brother has been missing since the war. Why are you looking for him?"

"I… I read his research paper on rockery a few days ago." Edward said, recomposing himself, "I am very interested in his study and decided to pay him a visit. And… I am sorry about your brother."

"Then you should leave." Alphonse turned to close the door. But before he could close it, Edward blocked the door.

"Wait." Edward could not disguise his eagerness.

"What do you want, Mister?" Alphonse asked in annoyance, "I don't know you and there is no money in this house. Would you please leave?"

Edward was stunned by the defensive attitude of the youth. But he immediately realized that it was most natural in this world. It was just after the World War I and the economy of Germany was in a serious depression. There were thieves and fraudulence was not uncommon. He knew the youth must be alerted due to his strange behaviour.

"Can we talk, Alphonse?" Edward urged.

"We have nothing to talk about, Mr Elric." Alphonse was getting more and more uncomfortable with this stranger. He pushed harder, trying to close the door.

"I am very interested in the rockery research carried out by your brother." Edward said, blocking the door from closing, "I… I want to study his research materials and maybe I can continue with his work."

"Your intention is appreciated." Alphonse said in annoyance, "I have continued with my brother's work since his disappearance."

"Then maybe I can help." Edward said, trying to find an opportunity to stay and know more about the youth.

The almost-extinguished fire of hope in Edward's heart re-lived since the first sight of this youth who resembled his own brother. He would not let this opportunity go easily.

"I don't need any help!" Alphonse shouted and forced the door closed. He decided that this strange at his door had come with some bad intentions, though he did not know what it was.

"Alphonse, please let us talk!" Edward shouted through the door.

"Leave me alone!" was the reply Edward got.

End of flashback -

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Ever since that faithful day, Edward decided to stay in Munich and came to Alphonse's house every day. Edward urged Alphonse to allow him to get involved in the research and, more importantly, to talk to him.

But Alphonse simply ignored him. Living alone in such post-war time was harsh. Alphonse had experienced the loss of his family and being robbed and cheated numerous times. He swore to himself that he was not going to trust anyone anymore.

Unable to get Alphonse to open the door, Edward retreated to sit at Alphonse's door step everyday. Being near to someone who looked like his only family was already a gift from heaven for Edward.

Edward started to talk about his view on the concept and structure of rockery through the closed door, though he did not get any response. He had been studying numerous theories on rockery over the two years. He had even developed his own theory. But he had never shared his view with anyone, until now.

Alphonse, on the other hand, though he did not respond to Edward's talking, he was impressed by Edward's view and theory. There were several occasions which Alphonse was tempted to ask Edward to elaborate on certain points. But he restrained himself as he did not trust anyone, including this stranger came from nowhere.

Apart from talking about his view on rockery, Edward mentioned that he had a younger brother, Alphonse Elric, and they were being separated for 'some reason'. He even told Alphonse how much Al looked like him.

Alphonse was very curious about Edward's story about the alchemy world. However, this made Alphonse believed that Edward had some mental problems.

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Three days later -

Alphonse decided that he needed to go visit the library to obtain some information. He was not surprised to see Edward sitting at his door step. He ignored Edward and walked towards the library.

Edward, on the other hand, was more than happy to see Alphonse. Knowing that the youth was very cautious about him, he did not push into conversation. Quietly, he followed Alphonse to the library and waited.

It was night time when the two left the library. Edward could no longer suppress his eagerness to talk to Alphonse. He urged Alphonse again and again to trust him and allow him to get involved in the rockery research.

"Leave me alone!" Alphonse said impatiently as he walked down the street, carrying a paper bag full of research documents.

"Alphonse, listen to me." Edward ran to follow the youth, "Please let me help you in your research on rockery. I told you that I need to find out if this can be the way for me to… to return to somewhere I belong... And, more important, it's that you... you look so similar to my younger brother…"

"Mr Edward Elric!" Alphonse shouted impatiently, "I don't know what is wrong with you. But I have told you a hundred times before. I am Alphonse Heiderich! Not Alphonse Elric! I am NOT your brother! So leave me alone!" And he walked away, leaving Edward, standing on the street stunned by the angry words.

Head lowered and shoulders slumped in defeat, Edward slowly walked to follow the youth.

'What should I do?' Edward thought as he walked along the dark street, 'I am going nowhere if I keep on like this. But can I really move on leaving Alphonse?'

Suddenly, he heard angry shouts from a dark alley not far ahead. He ran to alley and was shocked to see that Alphonse being surrounded by five teenagers.

"Hand that bag to me and we won't hurt you!" one of the teenagers shouted, waving a knife in his hand. Edward saw the teenager's hand was shaking, obviously that it was one of the first robberies the group committed.

"There is no money in the bag." Alphonse held the bag tightly.

"We will find it out ourselves!" another teenagers shouted, waving a hand gun in his hand, "Just give it to us!"

"No!" Alphonse shouted, "These are my brother's works! I won't give them to anyone!"

"Hurry! Grab the bag and let's get out of here!" the teenager with a hand gun shouted nervously and three others approached Alphonse and fought to get the bag. Alphonse struggled hard to keep it.

"S... stop fighting us or... or I will shoot you!" The teenager with the gun pointed the pistol against Alphonse with his shaking hands.

"No! Stop it!" Edward shouted as he jumped on the teenager with the gun, pushing the pistol away from Alphonse.

"Edward?" Alphonse was surprised to see this stranger risking his life to save him.

Edward struggled hard to keep the teenage with the gun away from Alphonse. But the teenage was at least a foot taller than him and well-built. Edward's absence of a real arm and a leg, which were replaced by the inflexible artificial limbs, only made things worse. It was Edward's determination and the teenager's nervousness which prevented the teenager from overpowering Edward.

Bang!

Everyone was shocked by the loud sound and stopped.

The teenager with the gun stepped backward hesitantly, away from Edward.

Edward was confused as he looked down on his abdomen. He felt numbed as he saw a blood stain spreading quickly, soaking his clothes around his stomach.

The teenagers screamed in terror and ran away from the alley.

Edward did not even notice when he fell to his knees, as his legs failed to support him any further. He put his real hand on the wound and took it up to look at it.

His hand was covered with his blood.

"Edward Elric!" Alphonse recovered from the shock and rushed to kneel beside Edward. "Why… why did you do that? Why do you risk your life to save me?" Tears threatened to escape from the eyes of the frightened youth.

"I… because you are Alphonse." Edward struggled to stay awake as black spots started to dance in front of his eyes.

"But I am not your brother!" Alphonse shouted, "You are such a stupid person! Can't you tell the difference between me and your real brother?"

"Because you are Alphonse…" Edward smiled as he started to fall to the ground, "That's the only reason I need…" he said as everything went black.

Alphonse caught the unconscious Edward in his arms, tears rolling down his chins, "No! Wake up, Edward! Open your eyes! Edward!"

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Two days later -

Edward woke up at the bright morning sunlight. He looked around and found himself lying on a bed placed in a room he had never been before.

'Where am I?' Edward thought as he sat up despite the sharp pain radiated from his abdomen, 'How did I get here?' He looked down and found that the wound on his abdomen was well-dressed with clean bandages.

Edward tried to get out of bed, only to fall onto the floor as his feet were too weak to stand. The fall caused great pain from the wound. Edward curled on the floor enduring and waiting for the pain to pass.

Suddenly, someone burst into the room and held Edward by the shoulders.

"What are you doing?" came a familiar voice.

Edward looked up and saw Alphonse's concerned face. Gently, Alphonse helped Edward to lie on the bed.

"You are the stupidest person I have ever seen." Alphonse frowned as if he was angry, "What do you think you were doing back in the alley?"

"I… hmmm... I was not really thinking..." Edward said in embarrassment. "I... I just want to... hmmm... keep you from any harm. I... I am sorry if I annoyed you..."

"You are really the stupidest person I have ever seen." Alphonse said as his frown changed to a warm smile, "But you are also the first person who cares so much about me since my brother left."

Edward smiled as he was happy to see that Alphonse had finally accepted him. "What happened?" Edward was curious, "I cannot remember anything after I was shot."

"You were unconscious due to the blood loss." Alphonse said. "I carried you home and took care of your wound."

"You took care of my wound?" Edward asked in surprise.

"Yes, and it took me over an hour to stop the bleeding." Alphonse said, flushing, "I know I am not a good doctor. But it is almost impossible to find a doctor nowadays as they are either in the military or dead. I am glad that the wound was not too serious. But I am sorry that you may have a scar with the stitches I made. I am not very good with thread and needles." He smiled shyly and flushed slightly.

Edward was surprised that Alphonse was behaving so much like his younger brother.

"But your right arm and left leg..." Alphonse said intimately, "I found that they are... they are... not real... when I treated your wound. Did you lose them in the war?"

"That's a long story." Edward said, smiling.

"Could you please tell me more about you and your brother?" Alphonse asked shyly, "I was really curious but I did not dare to ask." He took a bowl of chicken broth from the tray he brought to the room, "But you need to eat something first. You are too thin to be healthy. Have you been starving yourself?"

Edward smiled and gratefully accepted the chicken broth. He felt as if the world around him had brightened up for the first time since he arrived, for he was not alone anymore.

Though the person beside him was not his real brother, it was more than enough.

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The End

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